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Hulu Plus 'On Track' To Exceed One Million Subscribers This Year

Hulu Plus, the subscription service that launched last November, says it is “on track” to sign up more than a million paying customers by the end of this year. It’s a far cry from the 20 million people who subscribe to ideological twin Netflix, but it’s a heck of a start — and it comes […]

Hulu Plus, the subscription service that launched last November, says it is "on track" to sign up more than a million paying customers by the end of this year.

It's a far cry from the 20 million people who subscribe to ideological twin Netflix, but it's a heck of a start — and it comes amid fertile innovation around the flat screen TV you take everywhere, otherwise known as the iPad.

Hulu Plus was in private beta for months last year but opened up to everyone on Nov. 4 (a day after a Dish Network VP says the network-backed video-on-demand online service, was destroying television). Hulu doesn't offer live programming, but slightly delayed on-demand prime-time shows from four broadcast networks (not CBS) and about 260 others, as well as vintage programs of the "TV Land" variety. It initially charged $10 a month, but reduced that to $8 in short order.

Hulu also said that revenue was "on pace" to reach $500 million this year, primarily from 289 (so far) advertisers. Some $300 million of that will go to content providers.

Hulu is available on computers and a range of gaming platforms and soon but its greatest potential is tapping into the mobile device revolution. Conditions are ripe: There are millions of tablets being sold, on-demand is considered a feature rather than a bug in the age of the DVR, and wireless carriers are permitting video streaming on their strained 3G networks.

Now that TV is just an app, it really can go anywhere in a way that Sinclair and Sony only dreamed of.

These days "anywhere" also includes about the house: both Time Warner and Cablevision -- competitors of a kind to the sort of streaming TV service Hulu provides -- are offering iPad apps which let their subscribers watch live programming, but only when connected to home internet service they also provide. And let us not forget SlingBox, the pioneer in letting you watch your TV, at any hotspot anywhere in the world.

A comparison to Netflix isn't entirely fair, since the latter has been around quite a bit longer, is already responsible for 20 percent of peak U.S. bandwidth use, and is primarily about movies and TV shows from seasons past. But in the disruptive media universe Hulu and Netflix are joined at the hip, and both would now seem to be rising stars in the battle for the virtual living room.

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